Either the gender/sex: space should be a write-in, or it should be
left off most forms entirely. Why does a BBS, or an ad exchange site
online, or your credit card company, need to know what your genitals look
like? It definitely doesn't need to be on our driver's licenses; in fact,
Australia's already taken it off theirs.

My main objection is that I don't fit into their little boxes;
they're just pushing the idea that gender is either/or, one of only two
opposites. If they really want to know our gender identity, they'll ask

So when you get an organization's forms and questionnaires, drop
them a note to demand change one way or the other. Send them a copy of a
transgendered fact sheet. Let them know what's up.

2. Start support groups in your town.

A few flyers and a weekly meeting in a cafe and you're in
business!

3. Educate city and state reps. about transgender issues.

Write them letters, lobby them, send them articles, schedule an
appointment to come meet them and chat, find the text of city ordinances
and policies about transgender rights.

4. Get trans stuff supported/recognized by your city council.

It's okay not to know who to go to about this. If you know nothing
about city councils, or resolutions, you can still call up or write to one
of your city council members and ask them for help. They'll be delighted
to help a young person get into politics and Be Active in the Community.
You can look at other city council resolutions and see what they should
say. (Evanston, IL; Iowa City, IA; San Francisco, CA; Cambridge, MA;
Santa Cruz, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; All of Minnesota; Seattle, WA, and the
rest of King County, among other places, all have legislation protecting
people against trans-discrimination.)

Order books through them and get your queer friends to do the
same. Share little facts with them about the trans community while they
ring your books up. Tell them how it's growing and how "trendy"
genderfucking and gender studies are now. Suggest a section for it and
offer to provide a list of good books.

7. Educate your educators.

Slip trans/queer youth fact sheets into all the mailboxes at your
highschools and junior highs. Bring it up in class. Write papers about
famous trans people like Joan of Arc or trans issues in the media. Be
bold!

8. Recycle!

Get on a trans/queer mailing list, especially news-focused ones,
and start writing to your local paper to share what you find. The number
of letters to the editor they print on any subject depends on how many
they get about it. Send them press releases (you can write your own) and
articles, and ask why they haven't covered any of these stories. (Search
the list of mailing lists for good
ones.)

9. Spoof your paper!

Most newspapers, particularly those serving small communities,
will accept guest columns from community members. You can write some on
trans/queer rights, or have even more fun: Write an essay spoofing the
anti-trans gender-policing ideas you hear, so far right that eveyrone is
likely to find themselves supporting trans folk. Send it in with a fake
picture and a letter professing your love of God and the community. (This
has worked before; one guy in Chico, CA got a regular column this way!)

10.
Spoof companies.

This is my favorite. Write them official-sounding letters from your town's
branch of a well-known and powerful group like the ACLU, or from the
"national headquarters" of a group you make up yourself. Demand that they
amend a policy you dislike or add transgendered people to their
nondiscrimination policy or introduce sensitivity training. Imply you'll
sue. It's a wonderful thing. Remember to use a return address where you'll
get their reply but which won't look suspicious.

11. Plaster the town with our faces.

Make subversive posters showing people what we looking and
debunking stupid myths. One per poster is good. (Check out the Guerrilla
Girls' work, and the Lesbian Avengers'.)

12. Get college classes about us.

If you're in college, get some students together and battle the
Dean of Students or other administrators to institute a Queer Studies
program. Make class suggestions and find teachers willing to teach them.
(Okay, that's the hard part, but many universities will automatically let
you have the class if you just find someone who wants to teach it.)

13.Stage public lunches/workshops on gender. Have balloons printed
that say "Would your parents still love you if you were queer? Ask them!"
and pass them out at the local elementary school. Hold fundraisers for
bigger activist groups. Form coalitions. Think of your own ideas. Carry
them out. Then tell us about it.